Everything that you can see and touch around you is made up of atoms.

Until recently, if you wanted to see an atom up close, you’d need an incredibly powerful microscope.

Most of us don’t have an incredibly powerful microscope lying around, so the chances of seeing them up close were pretty slim.

Then, researchers managed to capture footage of atoms bonding and separating, on camera, in the first-ever video of its kind.

Popular Mechanics with more:

The research team used transmission electron microscopy in collaboration with the SALVE Project at the University of Ulm.

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) blasts a beam of electrons through a very thin sample of material, which is a lot like how traditional film photography already works on the “macro” scale, but with electrons instead of light. Electrons are so tiny that the resolution of a TEM image is visibly legible for atoms.

Behold – those two little black dots are the mighty atom bonding and separating:

The word ‘atom’ comes from the Greek word, atomos, which means ‘indivisible’, because it was once thought that atoms were the smallest things in the universe that could not be divided.

We now know that atoms are made up of three particles: protons, electrons, and neutrons, which are composed of even smaller particles called quarks.

We also found out the hard way that atoms can be split.

Back to the electron microscope that made the above video possible:

The team emphasizes that the investigative tool itself—the electron microscope—not only records the experimental proceedings, but actually pushes them to progress by adding that electron energy. “We show that the simultaneous function of the electron beam as a source of energy and an imaging tool allows advancement in the understanding of metallic bonding,” the researchers write. “The metallic bond can change over time as a result of the electron beam effect.”

The technology is undeniably cool and has the potential to record other elements on the electron-microscopic scale.

It gives a whole new meaning to ‘seeing what you’re made of’.

[source:popularmechanics]